Abstract

A distinctive feature of the urban renewal effort in MetropolitanManila is the policy requiring the minimum displacement of families vis - a- visthe provision of the basic needs of man or of a human settlement. To carryout this policy, a comprehensive upgrading and improvement in situ thatintegrates social service improvements and physical improvements was undertaken.The scheme called for the participation of a host of government agencies toovercome, among others, financial constraints and jurisdictional limitation.This led to the interaction, interrelationship, and coordination among variousdepartments and offices involved in the solution of a problem.This effort to make Metropolitan Manila livable and pleasant includesTondo. It is the largest squatter slum in Manila. Tondo-related activitieshave a formative impact on the government urban renewal program because itis the first comprehensive slum upgrading project ever undertaken. For allintents and purposes, therefore, the Tondo project is a prototype of cityrenewal in the Philippines.Experiences gained in the Tondo project implementation period willhelp strengthen the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the MetropolitanManila Commission (MMC). Particularly, NHA and its parent agency, theMinistry of Human Settlements (MHS) are expected to increase significantly itscapacity to plan and implement similar slum upgrading and sites and servicesprojects in other parts of Metropolitan Manila and in other cities in thePhilippines. The project would also help the government to developinstitutions, reexamine existing policies and programs and formulate newones to deal with the problems of urban growth. One of the existing policies which this study suggests governmentshould examine is its budgetary orientation re securing first the foundation infrastructures before the direct provision of services. Such partialityto public buildings and edifices, roads, and drainage and sewerage systemsleads to an incrementalist and palliative attention to the other basicneeds. Although the poor may enjoy to a certain extent the benefits derivedfrom these physical facilities, they may remain as poor as ever because theynow have to worry, for instance, about rentals which did not bother themat all when they were living in makeshift dwellings built in squatter areas.Indeed, city renewal must fulfil several objectives: social,physical, economic, educational. Moreover, it must aim at the spiritualneeds of the individual and the community. These goals must be pursuedto avoid paying lip-service to providing the basic needs which the governmenthas espoused and committed itself so very vocally. Serious considerationof this four-point objective would also mean a departure from the traditional.response of the Philippine government to the problem of slum and squatterareas, i.e., a series of ad hoc, crisis-oriented projects generallyinvolving pre-fabricated homes and major relocations to distant sites, which have not been very successful. Principal difficulties have been a lack ofnearby employment opportunities and inadequate services, especiallytransportation. In fact, there was no distribution of social infrastructure.The most important aspect of social infrastructure is the quality of humanresources, meaning, the capacity of labour to enjoy the benefits of growthand to contribute to productivity itself. By placing the discussion within the time frame, 1975-1980, thecircumstances shaping the urban renewal effort are sequentially presented.It was in these years that decisions to upgrade and improve MetropolitanManila became bolder: for example, foreign loans to finance social ratherthan economic infrastructure whose investment returns will not be readilyquantified in terms of cash. Chapter I describes the background of the effort. In a more orless historical perspective, this scenario gives account of the eventsthat moulded Metropolitan Manila into its present form, i.e., urban blightand subhuman living conditions in its squatter slum areas, specifically,Tondo. Chapter II analyses the conceptual framework of the effort. Thisis followed by the two chapters dealing with the application of the concept.Chapter III discusses the city renewal activities in the entire MetropolitanManila composed of four cities and thirteen municipalities, and Chapter IVdeals with the slum clearance and improvement of Tondo itself. Chapter Vconcludes with a cautionary note on the need to review the government policyallocating the major bulk of its meagre resources to infrastructures andphysical facilities to the detriment of the other basic necessities not onlyof the individual citizen but also of the larger community.

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